Chapter 40 Chapter 40 Indulgence Harms the Body
Jiang Hexue had not expected to hear such straightforward words from Shen Qingchen.
His expression was as cold as usual, his voice was cold and his tone was as calm as always.
But when Jiang Hexue looked up at him, he turned his eyes away uncomfortably, allowing her to see his slightly red ears.
"Accompany you?" She smiled. "Accompany my husband, is there anything fun to do?"
"I'll make you flatbread tomorrow." Shen Qingchen lowered his eyes, and his voice became more obedient. "And new Kou Dan."
Jiang Hexue put down her chopsticks and stood up. "Is this what you think is interesting, my husband?"
"The vassal state previously paid tribute to us with some rare treasures. If you are interested, go to the warehouse and pick some." Shen Qingchen thought for a moment and said.
"Boring." Jiang Hexue frowned and shook his head.
"Then I'll take you out of the house, okay?" Shen Qingchen quickly raised his eyes and glanced at her. "Let's go ice skating, or soak in the hot springs..."
"It's still boring." Jiang Hexue's expression didn't relax at all.
"...Then go and do whatever fun thing you want to do." After a long silence, Shen Qingchen's voice became softer.
He slowly raised his eyelashes, his beautiful peach blossom eyes like glass reflecting the fragmented sunlight: "Can I only do this alone?"
Jiang Hexue could no longer suppress the smile on his lips.
"My dear," she said, her hand resting on his shoulder, looking down at him, and smiling. "My dear husband."
Shen Qingchen said "hmm" softly.
"They're all interesting. I want to try the dumplings you make, see if you can make nail polish, pick out treasures from your storehouse, and go ice skating and hot springs with you..."
As Jiang Hexue spoke, she sat on his lap and moved closer to him, her soft breath falling on his ears.
"I mean, with my Tiantian, and my Maltose—as long as it's with you, it's fun."
It was Shen Qingchen’s turn to be stunned.
The confused look in his eyes made Jiang Hexue feel itchy. She wanted to kiss him but held back, and winked at him coquettishly: "Husband?"
Shen Qingchen finally lowered his head and touched his nose to hers.
But he didn't kiss her either.
"How long will this promise last?" He nuzzled hers, his voice nasal and inaudible. "A little longer."
-
But Jiang Hexue did not stay in the mansion all the time.
Firstly, although Ruan Yueyi's wedding date has not been set yet, it will definitely not be delayed too long, and she doesn't want her friends to worry about it.
Secondly… she had a small fight with Shen Qingchen.
Because Shen Qingchen turned deaf and dumb to her clear instructions.
Even when she pushed him onto the couch, he was still able to reject her calmly and coldly.
Chen Qingchen called it "indulgence. Desire. Harmful to the body", and when she asked, he told her that two nights a month would be enough, the first and fifteenth day of the month.
Jiang Hexue couldn't understand him at all.
How on earth could he say such a thing when they were both so young and full of vigor and vitality? Twice in one month?
What about a few years later? Would she become a widow at such a young age?
But she couldn't do anything to him for the time being...
In short, after eating the dumplings and asking him to buy her new nail polish, she went back to Qianxiangfang without stopping.
The scented bead bracelets used for testing sold unexpectedly well, and she even saw them on Ah Huan and Mrs. Liu's wrists.
"Actually, you can also braid it into a hair tie." Jiang Hexue pinched the chubby bun on Ah Huan's head, thinking.
But no matter whether it was the hair ties, scent beads, or other jewelry, the used-up scent mud reminded her that Qianxiangfang was no longer the same as before, and she could no longer rely on herself alone to make the scent balls.
She needs to teach others how to make incense, and then copy her incense recipe into a book.
But the incense maker needs to be focused and careful. Although she has enough sandalwood, running Qianxiangfang is enough to keep her busy.
There was no one around her for the time being, so she couldn't help but sigh in melancholy.
Suddenly a girl screamed from the street: "Help!"
"What happened?" Jiang Hexue frowned, put down the prepared incense mud, and stuck his head out.
Many people had stopped to watch the excitement on North Third Street. They saw a ragged girl running wildly on the street, followed by two ferocious-looking men who were chasing her relentlessly.
As she ran, she screamed in despair, "I won't sell myself! I won't be your young master's concubine!"
"Being a concubine to a noble man is a blessing." Li Po, who was selling roujiamo nearby, mocked. "Young lady, you don't understand."
The girl slipped and fell to the ground, and was about to be strangled by the big man who caught up with her.
Jiang Hexue grabbed two delicious pills by the door and threw them at the two big men.
She had played pitching pots a lot when she was young, so her aim was good. Although she didn't have much strength, she made the two big men stop.
"Who dares to interfere?" A large man rubbed his forehead and glared at him angrily. "We are servants of Minister Zhou of the Ministry of Revenue! You ignorant lowly people!"
"My body is as precious as a piece of gold for a servant of the Zhou family. It will cost at least two taels of gold to treat it!" Zhou Yiheng walked over from behind. In the cold winter, he fanned himself and pretended to be elegant.
"It will cost two taels of gold to treat a servant's minor wound that doesn't bleed. If Master Zhou is ill, will a hundred taels of gold be enough?" Jiang Hexue walked out from behind the door curtain and sneered.
"Greetings, Princess Heng'an." Zhou Yiheng instinctively shrank back and saluted reluctantly.
Jiang Hexue helped the fallen girl up, not intending to let the matter go. "Your father is only the Minister of Revenue, yet he can afford to support Mr. Zhou to spend money like water. I wonder where all this gold and silver comes from?"
Zhou Yiheng was speechless. She pressed on: "Is it that Mr. Zhou is relying on his in-laws' wealth, a man who is living off his wife, or is it—"
"The money flowing through the government office, which is not visible to the public, is it the hard-earned money of the common people?"
Her words were not empty talk.
When he had targeted Zhou Yiheng before, he had deliberately revealed his family's immense wealth to her. He was a spendthrift, much more extravagant than Shen Qingchen.
"Princess, please be careful with your words!" Zhou Yiheng's face turned pale.
"I just want to take in another concubine. An ordinary man should have three or four wives. I and she are in love with each other. Why is your Highness forcing me like this?"
"He and I are not in love with each other. I beg Your Highness to understand this." The girl next to Jiang Hexue suddenly knelt down and kowtowed to her three times. Her voice had calmed down, but it was still trembling slightly.
"Bitch! Your indenture is in my hands!"
"I have never signed a contract to sell myself. My name is officially registered with the government!" the girl said loudly, and kowtowed again. "Please understand, Princess!"
Jiang Hexue wanted to help her up, but she gritted her teeth and refused.
"Speaking of which, Zhou is a distant relative of the princess. Princess, we are all family. Why do you have to..." Zhou Yiheng rubbed his hands. If the hard way doesn't work, he has to try the soft way.
"Who calls you family?" Jiang Hexue frowned in disgust. "How dare you try to establish a relationship with the Imperial Clan? Young Master Zhou is truly shameless and disrespectful to the Emperor!"
She was very sharp-tongued. Zhou Yiheng wanted to retort, but then he remembered how Shen Qingchen had protected her during the winter hunt, and he shut up in frustration.
"After all, I paid money to buy you from the madam. Now you're denying that you didn't sell yourself. So where did this indenture come from?" Zhou Yiheng pulled a piece of paper from his sleeve pocket and glared at the girl fiercely. "Don't even think about denying it!"
The indenture in his hand had turned yellow, with the words "Ah Cheng" and "one hundred taels" clearly written on it.
"If that's the case, let's go to the Ministry of Revenue and investigate." Jiang Hexue folded his arms and whispered, "Xue Lan, go back to the palace and ask the prince to come... No need, just send more guards."
She joked with Shen Qingchen in small matters, but was reserved in big matters.
The Ministry of Revenue is half of the Zhou family's territory. Although the probability of tampering with such a small matter as the roster is low, it is still a matter of caution.
Zhou Yiheng's wife is Su Min'er, and Shen Qingchen is indeed protective of her, but...
Jiang Hexue glanced at Ah Cheng worriedly.
Between this unknown girl and Su's in-laws, she was not sure which side Shen Qingchen would lean towards.
-
Jiang Hexue made the right bet, Zhou did not tamper with the list.
Or perhaps it could be said that Zhou Yiheng was, after all, an idle young man who held no real power. Now that the matter of taking a concubine had reached such a point, he was too ashamed to ask his family for help.
After leaving the Ministry of Revenue, Zhou Yiheng returned in disappointment.
"Princess, I have no way of repaying you for saving my life." Ah Cheng followed Jiang Hexue. "My parents sold me into a brothel, and now I have nowhere else to go. If you need any help, I can help you."
Jiang Hexue looked at her for a moment: "Can you make incense?"
"I knew a little bit when I was working in a brothel before." Ah Cheng replied.
"Would you mind making one for me?" Jiang Hexue estimated the salary and said, "Just make one. If the quality is up to par, you can stay at Qianxiangfang and work there."
"No need to sign a contract to sell yourself." She hesitated for a moment, then looked at Ah Cheng's relaxed face and smiled happily.
A brothel might be a good place to find someone to make incense.
Ah Cheng was a steady person with decent skills, so she kept her to teach her how to make the sold-out "Spring Letter in the Snow".
It was not until three o'clock in the morning that he tiredly blew out the candle and went to rest.
-
It rained heavily at night and Jiang Hexue slept restlessly.
It must be that Ah Cheng's experience was quite similar to hers, and she had a nightmare.
The scene before her seemed to be covered by a thin layer of rice paper. She could only see a blurry figure, wearing gold and silver, with a cold and bleak luster.
"He's quite good-looking, but unfortunately, I'm tired of seeing him." The man's voice gradually overlapped with the hoarse, cold voice of the Zhenbei Marquis in his memory. "Why not make a human skin mask and sell it for some silver?"
"Bei Xuan is beautiful. If he were to be sold to the imperial capital, he would surely be worth more."
"Madam, make one, and Ah Xue will make one... No, Madam, make one. Ah Xue is young, so sell her to a brothel. She will definitely become a top courtesan..."
"As for that sickly Jiang Heye, he'll live for a while. At most, in three to five years, he'll be soaked in the medicinal soup until nothing remains..."
"Dead already? What a shame. It's hard to sell a dead person."
"Mother is dead, there's no need for you two to continue living and become an eyesore..."
Suddenly, I felt a cool touch on the back of my hand.
Jiang Hexue broke out in a cold sweat, shook it off abruptly, and sat up suddenly: "Who is it!"
"It's me." A low, cold and clear voice came.
Jiang Hexue let his sight slowly return to focus, then he tilted his head and glared at Shen Qingchen unhappily: "Don't come back so quietly next time! There are so many men in the room in the middle of the night, and it's really scary to encounter my nightmare!"
She almost thought it was Zhenbei Hou Jiang Tao.
Shen Qingchen said "hmm" softly and asked, "What did you dream about?"
"I dreamed that Jiang Tao wanted to sell me to a brothel." Jiang Hexue curled up her legs, hugged her knees, and told him everything that happened during the day.
"Then let's treat them in their own way." Shen Qingchen said lightly.
"Stop teasing me." Jiang Hexue didn't think that far ahead. "I mean, why did you come tonight?"
Shen Qingchen stretched out his hand, interlocked his fingers with hers, and gently stroked the back of her hand with his fingertips.
"It's raining tonight," he said, his voice lost in the sound of the rain. "Remembering your fear of thunder when you were young, I'm here to comfort you."
"Go to sleep, my lady."
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